Saturday, January 10, 2015

The Crisis of ISIS Panel at Islamic Center of Orange County Mosque

On the evening of January 9, I attended a panel discussion at the Islamic Center of Orange County Mosque in Garden Grove, California. The topic was the "Crisis of ISIS". The panelists were head imam of the mosque, Muzammil Siddiqi, the CEO of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Salam al Marayati, and the head of CAIR in Southern California, Hussam Ayloush. In addition, there was another young lady whose name I didn't catch, but I believe she was the wife of the imam at the Irvine mosque. Except for myself, a couple of other persons, and local press, the audience was entirely Muslim.

I videotaped the event, but I will provide a synopsis. Imam Siddiqi led off with a statement by the Fiqh Council of North America condemning the Paris attacks. He then went on to say that what occurred in Paris was against Islamic teaching. He was followed by Ayloush who gave a brief historical background of ISIS. Marayati followed and briefly talked about the importance of American Islamic youth who were being hit with all these conflicting influences and messages.

The last speaker was the aforementioned young lady. Her first few minutes were interesting because she addressed the Paris attacks and brought up the fact that certain conspiracy theorists were already opining that someone other than Muslims (like the Israeli Mossad) had carried out the attacks. She said if we assume that were true, why do we have all these Muslim voices on social media applauding the attack? (Are you reading this, Greta Berlin?) She mentioned one unidentified person who had sent a message on her own social media that those who insulted the prophet had to die. Later, during the q and a, she referred to differences within the community and said that she and her husband had attended an MPAC dinner in which they had a problem with one of the speakers. They had stayed outside the hall until that speaker (not identified) was finished at which time they went back into the hall. Yet, she said, they still supported MPAC. (Tape 127 9:40 mark)

The question and answer session was constructed so that questioners had to write their questions on cards which were passed up front. About 5 were chosen not including mine.

While answering one question, Ayloush mentioned that the fact that some "twenty" American Muslims had gone off to join ISIS did not justify the US Government spending millions of dollars investigating the Muslim community. He then said that it was only the Muslim community that was coming under scrutiny in this regard. He said that you don't hear about counter-violent extremism programs going on in synagogues in regards to the thousands of young Jewish men going off to join the Israeli Defense Forces killing people in Gaza He also said you don't hear about counter-extremism programs in Christian churches. (This is on tape 126 at the 8:58 mark.)

Actually, that fell in line with the question I sent up front which read:

"We hear reports about hundreds if not thousands of Western Muslims who have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. Are you aware of any Western Muslims who have gone there to fight ISIS?"

In connection with the Paris attacks, we also heard comments that the Prophet Mohammad had forgiven those who had insulted him. Yet, contrast that with British Muslim leader Anjem Choudary, who has just said this in response to the Paris attacks:

"The strict punishment if found guilty of this crime under sharia (Islamic law) is capital punishment implementable by an Islamic State. This is because the Messenger Muhammad said, "Whoever insults a Prophet kill him."But to me the most note-worthy comment of the night was when Ayloush compared Jewish American men going to join the IDF to defend Israel with American Muslims going to join ISIS. In effect, he was comparing the IDF to ISIS. Really, Mr Ayloush?To be sure, ISIS was condemned. It was said more than once that ISIS was neither Islamic nor a state. I believe the young lady who spoke was sincere. As for the other speakers, I have heard them speak before, and I have never been convinced by their words. I suspect much of what they said was directed to the local press, who were filming. In the final analysis, at least to me, the question of why there is so much violence, intolerance, persecution and hate by so many Muslims in the world today was hardly resolved. It just doesn't square with world events.

1 comment:

Squid
said...

Thanks for the post Gary. I am with you, in your statement:"It just doesn't square with world events." Of course the presentation by the various speakers will condemn the Paris murders. But, the carnage goes along with the so clued sacred teachings from the Islamic texts. The line of baloney that was feed to the audience in public spaces was in effect the Muslim form of deception called "taqiyya", the art of Islamic deception presented in the Koran. But, the hatred for Jews squeezed out as Mr Ayloush compared Jewish Americans joining the IDF to joining ISIS. This is pure anti-Semitism as it is spelled out in Islamic teachings.

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Roger Gardner of Radarsite (1936-2009)

About Me

Born 1945 in Los Angeles. Worked from 1998-2016 as adjunct teacher at University of California at Irvine Ext. teaching English as a second language.
Served three years in US Army Military Police at Erlangen, Germany 1966-68.
1970-1973- Criminal Investigator with US Customs
1973-1995 Criminal investigator with Drug Enforcement Administration. Stationed in Los Angeles, Bangkok, Milan, Italy, Pittsburgh and Office of Training, FBI Academy, Quantico, Va. until retirement.
Author of Erlangen-An American's History of a German Town-University Press of America 2005,
The Story of Papiamentu- A Study in Slavery and Language, University Press of America, 2002, and
The Languages of the Former Soviet Republics-Their History and Development, University Press of America, 2000.